Editing Microsoft Personal Web Server

{{Short description|Web server software}}
{{refimprove|date=April 2017}}
{{Infobox software
| name = Microsoft Personal Web Server
| developer = [[Microsoft]]
| discontinued = Yes
| language = Same languages as Windows
| genre = [[Web server]]
| operating_system = [[Windows 95]]-[[Windows 98|98]], [[Windows 98 SE]], [[Windows NT 4.0]]
}}

'''Microsoft Personal Web Server''' ('''PWS''') is a scaled-down [[web server]] software for [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] [[operating systems]]. It has fewer features than [[Internet Information Services|Microsoft's Internet Information Services]] (IIS) and its functions have been superseded by IIS and [[Visual Studio]]. Microsoft officially supports PWS on [[Windows 95]]-[[Windows 98|98]], [[Windows 98 SE]], and [[Windows NT 4.0]]. Prior to the release of [[Windows 2000]], PWS was available as a free download as well as included on the Windows distribution CDs. PWS 4 was the last version and it can be found on the Windows 98 CD and the Windows NT 4.0 Option Pack.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/visualstudio/visual-basic-6/aa227267(v=vs.60) |title=How to set up PWS on Your Machine |date=12 July 2006 |access-date=May 5, 2020 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200504121816/https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/previous-versions/visualstudio/visual-basic-6/aa227267(v=vs.60) |archive-date=May 4, 2020}}</ref>

Personal Web Server was originally created by [[Vermeer Technologies]], the same company which created [[Microsoft FrontPage]],<ref>[http://www.microsoftbob.com/post/History-of-the-FrontPage-Personal-Web-Server.aspx History of the FrontPage Personal Web Server]</ref> before they were acquired by Microsoft. It was installed by FrontPage versions 1.1 to 98 as well.

NT Workstation 4.0 shipped with '''Peer Web Services''', which was based on IIS 2.0 and 3.0. With IIS 4.0, this was renamed Personal Web Server to be consistent with the name used in 95/98.

Since Windows 2000, PWS was renamed the same IIS name used in server versions of Windows as a standard Windows component. [[Windows ME]] and [[Windows XP|Windows XP Home Edition]] support neither PWS nor IIS, although PWS can be installed on Windows ME. In other editions of Windows XP, [[Internet Information Services|IIS]] is included as standard.

Before [[Microsoft Visual Studio]] 2005, PWS was useful in developing [[web application]]s on the [[localhost]] before deploying to a production web server. The IDE of Visual Studio 2005 (and later versions) now contains a built-in lightweight web server for such development purposes.

[[File Transfer Protocol|FTP]], [[SMTP]], [[HTTP]] and the usual web languages such as [[PHP]] and [[Perl]] are supported by PWS. It also supports basic CGI ([[Common Gateway Interface]]) conventions and a subset of [[Active Server Pages|Classic ASP]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297943 |title=Getting Started with Active Server Pages |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041205214114/http://support.microsoft.com/kb/297943 |archive-date=December 5, 2004}}</ref> Using these technologies, web applications running on PWS are capable of performing and interpreting database queries and results.

Microsoft also produced a version of Personal Web Server for the Macintosh based on code acquired in its acquisition of ResNova Software in November 1996.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://news.microsoft.com/1996/11/20/microsoft-acquires-leading-macintosh-web-server-technology/ |title=Microsoft Acquires Leading Macintosh Web Server Technology |date=November 20, 1996 |access-date=May 4, 2020}}</ref>

== References ==
{{Reflist}}

{{Microsoft Windows components}}

[[Category:Home servers]]
[[Category:Web server software]]
[[Category:Discontinued Microsoft software|Personal Web Server]]

{{network-software-stub}}